Index Labels

Classic Sci-Fi: CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS

Leading the fight, one man fate has made indestructible. His name... Martin Rayburn.

Gerry Anderson's body of work is mightily impressive, a legacy that very few will ever achieve. From Thunderbirds to Terrahawks, Supercar to Stingray, his shows have entertained generations and will likely to continue to do so for many a year. It is said that Anderson was somewhat frustrated that his shows were labelled for 'children', but one look at Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons dispels that suggestion.

In 2068 A.D., an expedition from Earth touches down on Mars. As the
M.E.V. ( Martian Expeditionary Vehicle) crawls across the craggy
surface, a city twinkles in the distance. Convinced they are about to be
attacked, Captain Black of the security force SPECTRUM opens fire. But,
minutes later, the 'dead' city reappears intact. The inhabitants of
Mars - the Mysterons - have the ability to reconstruct dead matter (a
process they call 'retro metabolism'). They were a peace-loving race,
but now they are mad, vowing to destroy Mankind. Soon after the
expedition's return to Earth, Black disappears. The World President's
life is threatened, so SPECTRUM - whose agents are named after colours,
their leader is Colonel White - dispatches Captains Scarlet and Brown to
protect him. En route, their car crashes. Brown is reconstructed as a
Mysteron agent. In one of the most chilling scenes ever on 'children's'
television, Brown tries to kill the World President by becoming a human
bomb. The attempt fails, so that only leaves Captain Scarlet, also
Mysteronised, to complete the mission. Needless to say, it also fails,
but Scarlet is soon free of Mysteron control. Being indestructible, he
becomes SPECTRUM's top agent in the ongoing war of nerves against the
Mysterons.

So we have a children's show with a dead man as the hero! 32 episodes of sinister villains and violent deaths were coupled with
Anderson's trademark puppetry and traditional dramatic Barry Gray score. Each week would begin with the doom-laden voice of the Mysterons, issuing their latest
sabotage threat, and Captain Black duly dispatched to carry out
his orders. Compared to Anderson's other Supermarionation shows of the era, Stingray and Thunderbirds, this was nightmarish stuff indeed. Ordinary people died
horribly so they could be reborn as Mysterons. One episode had a
mechanic in an inspection pit being crushed when Black activated the
hydraulic mechanism holding the car he was working on. 'Crater 101' saw
Scarlet, Blue and Lieutenant Green heading for the Moon where the
Mysterons had built a base. The scenes where they wander round the
alien complex are incredibly eerie even now. 'Dangerous Rendezvous' had
the Mysterons ostensibly offering to negotiate peace terms with
SPECTRUM, but of course it all turned out to be a trap.

Aside from the SPECTRUM Agents the show's other major stars were the Angels - the beautiful
all-girl pilots who flew sleek aircraft equipped with rockets, and had
names like 'Melody', 'Symphony' and 'Rhapsody'. Wisely, we never saw the
Mysterons - whenever they used their powers a pair of white rings would
be visible - leaving this aspect open to the imagination, and
ultimately making them much more scarier because of it.

Produced two years after Thunderbirds, it's clear that the puppetry had
noticeably improved, giving this series probably the most lifelike of
all the Supermarionation shows, helped in part to the occasional short drop-in scenes of real life actors either sitting and moving - something that was harder to recreate with the puppets. There's also the use of substantially thinner strings, or at least they are much less visible than in Thunderbirds. The majority of the episodes stand the test of time, and overall the whole series is well paced, very exciting and tense, all of which make, in my humble opinion, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons the best
series Anderson ever produced.

So next time anyone tells you that all Gerry Anderson shows are just for children, sit them in front of an episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. From its creepy opening sequence onwards, to the fact that the hero can die each and every week, it's about as far removed from a traditional children's series as you can get!

But please remember Captain Scarlet is
indestructible. You are not.

SPECTRUM Is Green!

By day, an ordinary bloke in a dull 9 to 5. By night, a tired ordinary
bloke. Martin still hasn't worked out what he wants to do when he grows
up. He is currently 49.

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